On Wednesday, December 05, 2012 District 5 Police Officers Jason Rodriguez and William Feely conducted a field interview with two males, ages 16 and 18 for loitering in an alley in the 3800 block of N. Humboldt.

During the interview, the officers discovered that both subjects had property on them from a theft from auto in District 1. The 18-year-old also had a suspect alert for a burglary in District 1 at a home in the 3000 block of N. Cambridge Ave.

District 5 Police Officers Kevin Matte and Paul Martinez interviewed both subjects, and the 16-year-old admitted to the theft from auto in District 1 and attempts in District 5. He stated he attempted about 30 entries to autos in District 5 within the last week.

The 18-year-old suspect also admitted to the same theft from auto in District 1 with the 16-year-old. He then admitted to the District 1 burglary that he had the suspect alert from and implicated the 16-year-old as a co-actor in that offense. He then admitted to attempting about 200 thefts from autos in District 5 and District 1 within the past nine months since being released from custody but said he only completed six to eight of them.

He then admitted to attempting about 20 burglaries in District 1 but only completed about three. He described the area where the burglaries took place as “houses close to the lake” and “only east of the river”. He implicated the 16-year-old in those incidents as well. It appears they targeted unlocked homes and vehicles.

The investigation continues but this case shows that good arrests and crime sprees are stopped starting with keen police officer observations out on the street. Great job, District 5!